SHADOWY FIGURES: The Velvet Revolver boys (clockwise from below): Slash, Kushner, Sorum, McKagan & Weiland. (Supplied photo)

As lead guitarist for legendary hard-rock act Guns 'N Roses, Slash came of age in a pre-Internet, pre-camera-phone era -- one where entertainers were still entitled to a modicum of privacy.

But that was then and this is now, and thanks to the magic of technology -- not to mention a cultural obsession with gossip that's never been higher -- even the most intimate details of a rocker's life are usually no more than a couple keystrokes away.

And while his hard-partying Guns 'N Roses days are long behind him, Slash has been making the rounds with a brand new band in recent years: rock supergroup Velvet Revolver, featuring fellow former Gunners Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum, ex-Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland, and Wasted Youth guitarist Dave Kushner.

With a world of new marketing strategies stretched out before them, is Slash embracing the new -- and far more invasive -- methods, or hiding behind his iconic top hat and heavy metal curls?

"You can't help but be stuck in the middle," says Slash, now 42 and a father of two, from a tour stop in Atlanta. "I have a lot of old-school habits, and all the while (I'm) making new adjustments, just picking and choosing as to what's cool and what's not cool."

The man born Saul Hudson -- believed by many to be among the greatest rock guitarists alive, and weeks away from being immortalized in the new Guitar Hero III-- says he's often torn between the two worlds. He realizes tools like MySpace can help up-and-coming acts establish themselves and build up their fan bases, but he's also aware they're the quickest route to becoming a victim of your own overexposure.

"I think a lot of the allure of rock 'n' roll, and even the entertainment business, was due to the fact that it was so unattainable, that it was out of reach," he explains. "At this point you can follow someone from their bedroom to the market to the studio to the f--ing airport. At some point you just lose interest."

That's not likely to be the case with Velvet Revolver, a project born out of a one-off benefit concert for ailing drummer Randy Castillo. Though the gig at first provided an opportunity for Slash, Duff and Sorum to reunite (along with GNR guitarist Izzy Stradlin, who dropped out shortly afterward), it wasn't long before they'd recruited Kushner to fill out the roster, and turned their attention to finding a new singer.

Buckcherry frontman Josh Todd was involved briefly, and when he didn't work out, names like Sebastian Bach (Skid Row), Todd Kerns (Age of Electric), Travis Meeks (Days of the New), and Mike Patton (Faith No More) were also given consideration.

Slash maintains he'd always had his heart set on Weiland, but was afraid to pursue the oft-addled rocker because he was still committed to his old band.

"I'd always had a short list of singers who were still living, and he was at the top of that list," Slash says of Weiland. "When Stone Temple Pilots broke up, I took it as an omen."

Luckily, the lengthy audition period gave the band a chance to workshop a ton of new material, so when it came time to record Velvet Revolver's debut disc Contraband, the process was relatively painless.

And while Slash has said in the past he's not 100% satisfied with the album -- "The trouble was we didn't know this band that well," he explains -- he's confident they've come closer to their goal with the recently released Libertad.

Though the album got off to a rocky start -- sidelined by a false start with producer Rick Rubin, Slash's drug troubles, and an apparent round of rumour-mongering courtesy of ex-bandmate Axl Rose -- the band eventually hooked up with producer Brendan O'Brien (Pearl Jam, STP), and cranked out an album that shows "what we've accomplished," as Slash himself puts it.

And what of Axl and the Guns N' Roses glory days? Contrary to what Rose's legal team would have you believe, Slash says the two haven't spoken since 1996.

And while he's flattered by all the attention surrounding the 20th anniversary of GNR's seminal album Appetite for Destruction earlier this year, he's never been one to wallow in the past.

"That whole 11-year experience was really, really important stuff for me, and I wouldn't be who I am, sitting in this chair talking to you, if it hadn't have happened," he says. "But once you come to that point where you've walked away from it, you have to focus on what you're going to do next.

"For me, I live in the moment, so to go back that far is kind of redundant."